Sunday, August 31, 2008

While setting up our library I flipped through some old photo albums my mom put together years ago. The year that I was three years old she kept a calendar and each day wrote either what we were doing or funny things I said. I love this idea, and want to do one myself when I have children. Anyway, reading it yesterday made me laugh out loud! I was such a funny kid.

Here are a few of the things I said:

"Mommy, when we have the new baby (my brother Brandon) let's name him Santa Claus" only a three year old would think Santa Claus is a good name for a baby. My poor brother would kill me if we named him Santa.

I said "I'm not a basket case!" I'm not sure where I heard the term 'basket case', or if it was in reference to me, but alas, "I'm not a basket case!

I told my mom "I love her eleven bits". Boy good thing too, I don't know what would happen if I only loved her ten bits.

I told my dad "not to slurp, it is bad manners." I still say this, mostly to my husband.

"Daddy, it is hard being a big girl." Boy, I was so wise beyond my years. It is hard being a big girl.

I called my grandma "the old lady." Well it's true, right? Especially compared to me, when I was only three. Everyone older than five was really old.

Remember how I mentioned that I named all my dolls awesome names like Soft Baby and Big Baby. Well one day I told my mom "Soft Baby is being a pain in the ass." Poor Soft Baby, I'm sure she was a nice girl.

"There's sperm in my juice." Wow, just wow. I sure hope I was wrong.

One day in December we went to visit Santa. Afterwords I said "Santa didn't bite or lick me when I sat on his lap." That, I can say, is a very good thing.

"Mom, if your underpants go any lower I'm going to see your butt hole." Haha!! What an awesome three year old I was.

"Wouldn't it be nice if the lights on police cars were pink and purple?" I have to say, that would be kinda nice.

"Mom, you look fat, and always will." How cruel a kid can be, but it is funny.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Yesterday, the beginning of the holiday weekend, could have been so much better. On the way home from work, someone slammed on their brakes about four cars ahead of me... everyone followed and I rear-ended the person in front of me. Great beginning to the holiday weekend, right? Luckily no-one was hurt and both cars only had minor damage. I didn't receive a ticket, just a warning for following too close. Now I'm going to be in a rental car for the next week or so, because my car needs a new hood and front bumper. The car I hit will only need a new back bumper. Shit.

Anyway, after that stress had passed, E and I started to work! We actually haven't stopped working since we moved in, each and every night I just have one more thing to clean up before going to bed, so it ends up we stay up way way too late. E and I have also become Ikea pros, we can pretty much put together anything, without mistakes. This is not how it has always been, oh no. The first three or four pieces we put together we learned from our mistakes. So far this week we've put together our new kitchen table, two of the six chairs, a bathroom cabinet, a desk, a hutch (this was a three-night job), couches, and more. Plus we've unloaded a ton of boxes, and our house is really starting to come together.

As I mentioned in previous posts, we have three main floor bedrooms, the first is our master bedroom, and then we have my doll room, and last we have the library. Today we've spent the majority of the day in the library, and it is coming together so beautifully!

Here are some photos. The couch is new (Ikea!) as is the desk (that is actually where I am right now). There are four large bookshelves in the room, one near the door that I have yet to get a photo of, because there is a huge pile of tools in front of it. We plan to hang up a painting above the couch, and the half empty bookshelves are obviously not done, but it is a work in progress:

Mabel enjoys the new leather couch. We are going to hang a painting above the couch in a little bit.Here is a photo of where I am sitting now. The window has a beautiful view of a maple, and the desk is newly set up. Sweet!I've also been spending a great deal of time in the doll room. I've really wanted to get this de-cluttered and set up. Most things are done, but a few things are missing (mainly Kit's bedside table, damn it). Lei Mei's room still needs to be worked on, but everything else is done. (Sorry for the amount of photos, I always get excited about my doll room.)

Here is the view of the room right when you walk in. The pink shelves? Ikea of course!Here is the other side of the room. I need to move the trunk in front of the closet to make the closet accessible. But isn't the pink wingback perfect!?Here is a photo of Violet's room. Don't you love her floor lamp? Ikea!And here is Kit's attic room, sans her bedside table.Lei Mei's room is a work in progress, I can't seem to find her tablecloth.And Violet's closet, neat huh?Now the entire house is not complete, but something else we are extremely proud of is our new hutch. Assembling this beast was a three-night job, but it was worth it! This is in our kitchen right next to our table.Everything doesn't look as clean as these few rooms, oh no. Here is what the hall looks like, after we unloaded our books for the library:More photos to come!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Thank goodness, the kitties finally seem to be adjusting. After two full days hiding in the basement, I finally decided to force Moose upstairs. Now by force, I was not mean, I just picked him up and he looked around scared and curious. I brought him up, and into the bedroom. I placed him on the bed, which smells familiar, and began giving him lots of pets. He was very scared, but this was a baby step.

After two more times of this, Moose is finally feeling comfortable in our new house. Mabel and Rumpus are also adjusting well. Things are going splendidly!

The boxes are slowly getting unpacked and things are slowly being put away. Every night we assemble some Ikea furniture and tonight we are going to pick up some bookcases from my Mom's house.

So, here are a few photos, remember, this is a work in progress:

After we assemble our new table from Ikea Mabel makes herself right at home. Notice she doesn't seem worried about the new house, unlike the boys.Finally after two days Rumpus (behind the coffee table) and Moose (on the floor near the couch) join us upstairs with Mabel (on the trunk). Also, the couches are new! They got delivered from Ikea yesterday. I think we'll need a rug soon.Here is our bedroom. The walls are sage green. We want to decorate the walls with black and white photos from our travels.

I've always wanted a treehouse. Not a little rickety board nailed to a branch, but an actual treehouse, with a roof and windows. As a child I planned that I would need a rope ladder, a trap door and window boxes. Of course the treehouse will also need a light, so you can read in there at night.

I think I found one online that meets my specifications. Maybe E will decide to build it for me. Or my friend Ben, he's really handy with tools.

Monday, August 25, 2008

We moved! Well mostly moved. 95% of our things are at the new house. The 5% that is still at the condo is all the miscellaneous things that I didn't pack, and are scattered everywhere. Over the next few days E and I will move those things too.

Here is a breakdown of how the weekend went. I promise to post photos ASAP, but alas, the computers at home are not set up, and so I have yet to upload my photos onto the computers.

On Saturday at 12:01 I pulled into my brand new driveway. I couldn't wait to get started, there was a ton of work to do! E and I painted and painted and painted. My dad came over and helped, he is wonderful to donate his time. The painting went as expected. It was a really long day, and we needed to make two extra Home Depot runs because we ran out of both gold and blue paint. Finally at 8:45 pm we were done. And we were so tired. We went out to a cheap Italian restaurant for dinner and were barley able to keep our eyes open as we ate. By 9:30 we were back at the condo and fell into bed. Before we fell asleep we commented on that this was the last night we would spend in the condo. We were a little sad.

On Sunday we woke up bright an early at 7:30 and started working full steam ahead. By 9:00 final boxes were packed, dressers were unloaded, all of our last minute bathroom things were loaded and the dinning room was rearranged. Then the moving party showed up. My aunt and cousin, E's dad Steve, my dad, E's brother David, E's mom and sister, and soon my mom and Grandma. It was amazing! We were like little ants. Within a half an hour the garage which was FULL of boxes was empty. Then Steve decided to rent a truck for the big items, and an hour later all our furniture was loaded. At the new house things were happening just as quickly. Boxes were being placed in their new homes, furniture was being unloaded and my Grandma and mom unloaded all the kitchen boxes and put things away.

Our house was coming together before our eyes. The men were the hardest workers, and were wonderful. E, David, my dad and Steve loaded and unloaded the heaviest furniture and lifted items over their head to place them in their designated spots. It was amazing and I was so grateful. Steve and my dad were amazing, the two of them carried our solid wood stereo case down the stairs and placed it perfectly in the basement room. This stereo case weights easily 250 lbs. and just the two of them moved it. Wow.

A funny side note: Steve rented the huge truck and drove it to our new house. He wanted to pull it as close as possible to the front of the house and the top of the truck hit our tree. A large branch pulled off the tree and got stuck on the truck's roof. Steve felt worried and happy he had purchased the rental insurance, but the rest of us were laughing because the truck looked camouflaged, with the huge leafy branch stuck to the roof.

Finally around 4:00 most of our helpers headed home, and E and I went back to the condo to get the kitties. They were so nervous and scared. The condo was empty and they didn't like when we loaded them into the cat carriers. Moose was mewing and crying, it was so sad. We loaded them into the cars and drove the quick commute to the new house.

Once at the new house we took all three kitties downstairs to the large TV room and closed all the doors. We opened the cat carriers and watched. Moose was so so scared, he tried his hardest to stay in the cat carrier, it was one thing that smelled like home. Finally he spotted his kitty scratching house, and made a run for it and hasn't left since (he is still there this morning). Rumpus sniffed around a little and then found a small space between the wall and a table that was leaning agaisnt it, and didn't come out until 3:00 am. Mabel, on the other hand, is so funny. She didn't seem worried in the slightest and decided she is quite happy in the new house and loves all the views out the windows. As E and set up our new kitchen table from Ikea, we had to use the drill. That didn't even phase Mabel, she just relaxed with us. She's so funny.

The house is perfect, we couldn't be happier. I'll post more later, with lots of photos.

Oh, and a little shout out to Colette, my doll friend in New York. She is hosting Violet right now, and last weekend went to Cape Cod. The photos that she took of Inky and Violet are adorable, you must check out Violet's blog, it is too cute to miss.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

The house is ours at noon. I'm counting down the minutes (only 58 more to go). What are we going to do today? Paint three bedrooms. Yes, three! The library we are painting gold, the doll room we are painting light blue, and the bedroom we are painting sage green.

We close tonight, at 4:30. I go from being really excited to really scared. Mostly excited.

We have been thinking a lot about what we want to do with the three main floor bedrooms. One will be the master bedroom of course, one will be the doll room (yea!) and the last one we've decided to use as a library. We've decided to move our big bookcases into this room and put a loveseat, lamp and mini desk for the laptop in there. We want a cozy place where we can nap, read and relax. I was once the most excited about my doll room, but now the library is what is most exciting me.

Here is the mini desk we chose from Ikea to put in the library. I can't wait to get everything set up, and devourer a novel in my new reading room.

We are also getting a few other things at Ikea (don't worry, we are spending money wisely, we've done a lot of thinking and budgeting). We need a new kitchen table, a coffee table and a couch.

E and I are so excited about our new house! We get the keys at noon on Saturday. Saturday can't come quickly enough.

Monday, August 18, 2008

I love lazy days, love them. Especially when so much is going on like packing, cleaning, looking for a new job, furniture shopping on a budget, updating my resume, and planning a trip to Japan. Because of all this, I really was looking forward to a short weekend at the farmhouse.

Of course we did what we always do at the farmhouse – nothing. David, E and I drove down on Saturday around lunch time. We went hawk watching with E's new binoculars (birthday gift!) and enjoyed the temps that are finally cooling.

Sunday we went to breakfast at the retro '50s diner on main street and relaxed at the house. I hauled a thick quilt and pillow outside and flopped down in the shade and read. I started reading Twilight, which is major brain candy, and proving to be a quick read. I snacked on dry cereal, played with my dolls and enjoyed the fact that I had nothing to do.

Plus the weather was 100% perfect, so I couldn't complain about a thing.

Relaxing with a book-More relaxing on the lawn-Also the thistles were in bloom, this is near where E and I want to place our first geocache.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

With my job in the dump and my mortgage doubling, why the hell am I going to Japan? The answer is easy actually. E is being sent to Japan for work for two weeks. The first week will consist of setting up the show, and then taking the rest of the week off to wait for the show to start. The second week will consist of working the show.

So the first week he is mostly free, and his company is paying for his food and lodging for the entire "off" week. E and I decided early that if this was the case, I would join him in Japan because his flight would be paid for, as well as the hotel and his food for the entire week.

Because of these special circumstances, we will only have to pay for my flight and my food, which means although it is Japan, it an extremely budget trip, if you could say that.

Both E and couldn't resist such a special opportunity, and we've budgeted for the trip, and I think we can swing it.

Monday, August 11, 2008

We are moving in two weeks. E and are so excited! Our new backyard is so big, our new kitchen is so nice, and the doll room, oh the doll room...

But there are things we are going to miss, really really miss, here they are in no specific order.

1. Our big bedroom. One of the best things about our current place is the size of our bedroom. It is big, bright and beautiful. We have all of our ocean liner posters framed and hanging in our room. The walls are painted the color of the ocean, light and bright in the day and darker blue at night, such a cool color. And we have a walk in closet. At our new house we have a tiny master bedroom. There will not be enough wall space to hang our ocean liner posters, and the closet it miniature.

I will miss my beautiful (big) bedroom.2. The swimming pool and hot tub. Our condo has a community swimming pool and hot tub. They are only open in the summer, but I love visiting both in the late summer evenings. E usually stays home and I walk to the pool alone. I usually bring a book or just plan on enjoying watching the darkening sky. Most summer nights you can find me enjoying the hot tub and pool around 9:00.

I will miss this evening tradition.3. The reading nook. The reading nook is a large window seat we have in our upstairs office. In the fall, winter and spring E and I spend almost every weekend afternoon there, napping. We called in the reading nook because it looked like such a great place to curl up with a good book, but alas, no reading is actually ever done there. We just sleep sleep sleep.

I will really really miss the reading nook. 4. The view from my bed. When I open my eyes in the morning this is what I see. No joke, this is the view from my pillow.

I will really miss this. Closer view of the bowl-5. My backyard. Right now we have the most darling little backyard. I have always thought of it as a little secret garden. Everything is so green and shaded in my backyard, it almost feels like another world. E and I eat 90% of all our summer and autumn meals out there, both lunch and dinner at our mini bistro table. We listen to the pond, enjoy the shade of the huge silver maple, and talk about the day.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

What have E and I been busy with over the last few weeks? EVERYTHING! We've been planning our trip to Japan, picking paint colors for our new house, packing everything in sight, watching the Olympics, and planning my doll room. I've been so busy I haven't had much of a chance to worry about my job (It is still not good. We are not making any money, and I can't work for free, so I'm going to start looking for something else this week, yikes!).

So, to sum everything up, I have to find a new job, I have to move to a new house, I have to clean, pack and sell our condo and reserve a hotel in Japan where nobody seems to speak English. Ha! I'm trying to keep my spirits up, because I'm really really excited about our new house.

Packing is not that exciting a subject to read about, but our cats have been helping.

Mabel enjoys the new cleared off bookshelves and helps roll some of our posters once they were taken off the walls.Moose has decided that our biggest box is not actually for packing, but instead is his new home. I swear, he spends 90% of his day inside, on top or next to his new cardboard dwelling (and doesn't he look thrilled to see my camera?)Rumpus has been the least effected by the packing. Mabel and Moose seem to want to know what is going on at all times, but Rump enjoys taking naps with E after a long day of packing. (Why is it that E always lies across the bed? Example one and two.)So what do we have to show for two weeks of solid packing and cleaning? Only a house full of really random miss-matched items waiting to be boxed and the cleanest front door on the block.

Thursday, August 07, 2008

We close on our new house in two weeks from today. Two weeks! E and I have almost finished packing, and there are few last repairs to do, and some final deep cleaning, but we've been working like crazy.

Also, E is going back to Japan for work in mid September and I have decided to join him. That is only a month away...

Monday, August 04, 2008

Last week while E was in Japan and I was left to my own devices I reconnected with some old friends. I am so happy I did, we had a blast.

First on Monday I reconnected with Katie M. Katie was my best friend from the time I was 12 until I was 16. She was three years younger than me and lived two doors down the street. There are so many wonderful memories about the times I spent with Katie, which was literately every day after school and every weekend. Our favorite activities were playing with our doll-house dolls or our American Girl dolls, exploring the neighborhood, jumping on the trampoline, and talking for endless hours about our crushes.

Katie and I met on Monday at a restaurant and caught up on everything. I wanted to tell her how sorry I was to hear about her brother passing away and find out what direction life was taking her. We ended up talking for hours and laughing about what dorks we were. There are a few things that I am remembering now, like the time Katie bit my arm and I ran home crying, and or the time my cat killed her hamsters (sorry about that!). Or the time we got busted climbing on the fences behind Alan Orr's house, and Katie ratted me out, but told Alan that her name was "Lindsey Orr" which was hilarious! (Lindsey was Alan's daughter).

Anyway, I dug up some photos of Katie , here they are.Katie had stick straight hair, but one night during a sleepover she let me curl her hair in sponge rollers.I remember this evening so well. The light was really pretty, so Katie and I grabbed a camera and shot the entire roll of film. Not many photos turned out, but this one with the cherry tree did.Then on Wednesday I met up with three other long lost friends! Brittney, Erin and Becky! These three woman were some of my best friends through the hardest part of a teenager's life (ninth, tenth and eleventh grade). Looking back now, I wish I had stayed closer friends with them through my senior year, I separated myself from their group because I wasn't Mormon, but history is history .

Anyway, back to Wednesday - we had a ball! All four of us met up at Zupa's and got soup and salads. We sat outside and ended up talking for three hours. We chatted about college, boys, life, kids, family and everything else. It is amazing that we haven't been close in ten years, and still things feel familiar and fun. Brittney is doing fantastic, she lives with her hubby and two children in Nevada. Erin is such a smarty (she always was) and she is just finishing her Masters (or is it PhD?) at BYU. And Becky is doing fantastic, she and her husband live in Cottonwood Heights with their two children.

(Funny side-note: while at Zupa's we ran into Alan Orr, the same guy that had busted me for climbing his fence with Katie years before).

I also dug up photos of them when we were younger, so here they are:Brittney, me and Erin in the front of my house. We printed this photo in black and white, then my mom taught us how to color it.This is my bedroom. Melissa, Erin, Leslie, Amy and Brittney trashed it while I was away for my 16th birthday. There was toilet paper, newspaper and confetti everywhere! It was really fun to sneak into Erin's room for her birthday a month later and do the same to her room.Brittney, me, Jacee, Erin and Becky (front) hike the Mormon Pioneer trail. All I remember from this hike was how HOT it was!What else kept me busy while E was away? Oh, packing about 600 boxes. The house is looking pretty empty.

Friday, August 01, 2008

Okay, I'm going to finish. I only have 30 left. Here is post one and two.

71. My first car was a horrible old Buick that barely ran. I plugged it in at night in the winter to keep the engine warm.72. I am a good typist.73. I like McDonald's breakfast. I always order an egg McMuffin without ham.74. My nickname JJ came from Jumping Jessica. When I was 14 we went to Hawaii and I jumped off all of the waterfalls into the pools below, and the nickname was born.75. I'm excited about having a doll room in our new house.76. One of my favorite lunch foods is a turkey and avocado sandwich.76. I like salt and vinegar chips.77. My best friend in fifth grade lived across the street. She had food storage in her basement and we would sneak down there and eat things.78. I'm not always good about eating breakfast.79. I went to Nantucket with my family when I was 17 and have dreams about it often.80. I hate the televisions at the airport that play CNN on top volume.81. I really like tasty salads with lots of toppings.82. I took AP classes in high school.83. I always dreamed about taking an Italian honeymoon. Two years ago E and I honeymooned in Italy.84. I love to take naps.85. I love my feather pillow.86. When I was 12 years old, my family and I drove across the country. I loved it.87. I was a witch, fairy, black cat, unicorn, hobo, superman, and many other things for Halloween.88. My first word was "moon"89. I never learned to crawl. Instead, I scooted on my bum.90. When I was a figure skater I developed tendonitis in my hip.91. I've always worn a ring on my right had that my great grandmother had when she was a girl. The ring is a gold heart with a small star of David and a diamond.92. I learned to ski when I was four.93. My middle name is Rachel.94. I'm having a harder and harder time thinking of things to add to this list.95. I am the oldest of four kids.96. Each of the kids in my family are four years apart. So right now I'm 27, Brandon is 23, Melissa is 19, and Chandler is 15.97. I have never used drugs.98. If I am nauseous, I rather just barf and get it over with.99. I cried when I saw 101 Dalmatians when I was little, I was so scared of Curella De Vil.100. I can sleep on airplanes if I put my head on the mini tray in front of me.